Moderate quake shakes north India, no damage reported

By IBT Staff Reporter On 03/05/12 AT 6:08 AM

A moderate earthquake felt across north India rocked buildings and sent office workers running into the streets in the capital New Delhi at lunchtime Monday, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicentre was about 30 miles (48 km) west of New Delhi. The 5.2 magnitude tremor had a depth of 11.9 miles, the USGS said.

Such quakes rarely cause major damage.

Buildings swayed for about 30 seconds in New Delhi's central business district and many workers abandoned lunch and made for the stairs.

A colleague and I were talking when we felt the earthquake. We ran down the stairs from our sixth-floor office, said Sonu Soni, 40, an employee with Cisco Systems Inc.

The director of India's Department of Seismology, R.S. Dattatreya, said the quake measured 4.9 on the Richter scale and hit at 13:11 local time (0741 GMT).

Its epicentre is in Delhi/Haryana border region, he told CNN-IBN television network. Nothing to worry at this moment.